Anglesey Friday 8 June 2012

Having organised track days at Anglesey Circuit since the late 90's, the only real criticism of the place has always been the lack of facilities. Those drivers who have only visited in the last decade have little to moan about - the first time we operated there we had to sign-on in a disused double-decker bus and take our own packed lunch!

Even once the clubhouse and cowsheds scrutineering bay were erected, the majority of the paddock were always going to be exposed to the often brutal elements on the island. Having spent over Â£4M in 2006/2007 on the redevelopment and extension of the circuit, it was a crying shame that the owners didn't have the confidence to go the whole hog and construct a pit complex at the same time.

And so we've had to wait a further ~5 years for the circuit to finally be complete. With 22 garages (11 doubles) and a control tower/commentators box the new pit complex puts many of the UK's other and higher-profile venues to shame. With a spectators terrace offering relatively unhindered views of most of the track - the new building also serves to shelter the rest of the paddock from the worst of the wind that so often batters the place.

Our track day on Friday was one such occasion, with winds gusting to 70mph and horizontal rain for most of the day - we couldn't have picked a better day to use the new garages for the first time.

For the first time in what seems like months, we actually had a spare R300 sat around on Friday as well, so it seemed rude not to head out and sample the best tarmac Wales has to offer. It never ceases to amaze me what a great track Anglesey is, with a fabulous mixture of challenging, off-camber corners, tightening on the exit and the blind crest of Peel for good measure. The real bonus at Trac Mon though, is the run-off. The whole circuit having been designed with a blank canvas by Circuit Manager Richard Peacock to have excellent run-off everywhere you need it.

We had a couple of tweenagers there on Friday who were too young to passenger during normal track time, so they got to sample a couple of totally sideways laps in the R300 at lunchtime courtesy of ones-truly. It's a tough job but someone's got to do it!

In Pictures

Dave Courtney heads through Peel corner, unable to tell where the tarmac ends and the Irish Sea and the sky begins! Despite attrocious conditions, Dave proves you can still have a great time on track - read his review on TrustPilot.co.uk. The front of the new pit complex (pit lane side) and finally, Anglesey Circuit still manages to make BaT regular Juan Solo smile after ~30 odd track days there. Juan also managing to prove that he's not TFFAJ (Too Fat For A Juno).